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Quartet ready for England tour

Four NSWIS netballers have been selected in the Australian Diamonds Netball Team for a tour of England in early 2016.
The selections are headlined by the World Cup winning trio of Paige Hadley, Sharni Layton and Caitlin Thwaites, with Gabi Simpson also earning selection following a successful Constellation Cup campaign.
Fellow NSWIS athletes Kristiana Manu’a and Stephanie Wood were also named as training partners for the squad.
The three-test series takes place between 20-24 January 2016, with two matches taking place in London.

Hockey trio set for World League

Three NSWIS athletes have been selected in the Australian men’s team to compete at the FIH Men’s Hockey World League Final in India.
Kieran Govers, Blake Govers and Matthew Dawson will all line up for the Kookaburras in their World League title defence during December, with Blake Govers and Dawson being the only two junior athletes selected to compete.
An additional four athletes will travel to India as part of the Australian squad for a test series against the host country, with Simon Orchard, Tristan White, Flynn Ogilvie and Tom Craig all earning selection.
In other hockey news, NSWIS athlete Kyah Gray has been selected to captain the Australian women’s indoor hockey team for December’s Four Nations Tournament in South Africa.

Diamonds retain Constellation Cup

The Australian Netball Diamonds have retained the Constellation Cup despite losing the final two matches of the series.
The Diamonds, featuring six NSWIS athletes, opened the series with a 50-44 victory over New Zealand in Christchurch before all but securing their fifth Constellation Cup with a 58-48 victory in the second match of the series.
However after the series returned to Australian shores the New Zealanders pegged one game back with a 50-47 win over the Diamonds.
New Zealand then needed to win by 14 goals to win the Cup, however with the score in the final match being 58-47 the Diamonds were able to retain the Cup.
The NSWIS athletes in the squad were Paige Hadley, Kim Ravaillion, Sharni Layton, Gabi Simpson, Caitlin Thwaites and Ashleigh Brazill.

Medals galore at Diving Grand Prix

The 2015 FINA Diving Grand Prix concluded on the Gold Coast over the weekend with three NSWIS athletes taking home medals from the event.
Esther Qin highlighted the results with three medals from three events, claiming gold in the women’s 3m sychro springboard and silver in both the mixed 3m synchro springboard and women’s 3m springboard.
Qin’s gold in the 3m synchro with Samantha Mills was especially significant given they defeated the highly rated Chinese pair, with the mixed 3m synchro medal coming alongside fellow NSWIS athlete Matthew Mitcham.
Mitcham also claimed bronze in the men’s 3m synchro springboard and men’s 10m synchro platform.
Rising star Nick Jeffree continued his strong form by winning gold in the mixed 10m synchro platform, while Melissa Wu finished sixth in the women’s 10m platform.

World Championships close in Doha

The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships closed in Doha, Qatar over the weekend with more medals in the second week of competition.
Following Angela Ballard’s gold medal double, fellow track star Madison de Rozario won gold in the women’s T53 800m.
Coached by Louise Sauvage in the same squad as Ballard, de Rozario won by 0.09 seconds from her nearest competitor, with Ballard taking bronze.
There was also further success for de Rozario as she took bronze in the women’s T53 1500m.
Discus thrower Guy Henley was also in the medals during the second week, winning silver in the men’s F37 discus with a best throw of 53.41m.
The Australian team finished the championships with eight gold, four silver and 10 bronze medals to place ninth on the medal tally.

Stingers set for world tour

Seven NSWIS athletes have been selected on the Australian women’s water polo team for a world tour as part of the Olympic squad selection process.
Selected in the team are NSWIS Jayde Appel, Isobel Bishop, Hannah Buckling, Keesja Gofers, Bronte Halligan, Holly Lincoln-Smith and Nicola Zagame (NSW).
The team will first fly to Montenegro before heading to Rio and the USA in what is seen as a rehearsal for the 2016 Olympic Games campaign. The itinerary mimics what the team will undertake ahead of the Games next year.
The Stingers depart on 29 October before returning on 30 November.

Hockey teams win in New Zealand

The Australian men’s and women’s hockey teams triumphed at the Oceania Cup over the weekend as both teams defeated New Zealand to claim their respective titles.
The men’s team, featuring NSWIS athletes Matt Dawson, Blake Govers, Tom Craig and Flynn Ogilvie won 3-1 while the women’s team, featuring NSWIS athletes Mariah Williams, Emily Smith and Georgina Morgan won 2-1 following a tense penalty shootout.
Both the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos have qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games following their respective gold and bronze medals at the 2015 FIH World League Semi Final earlier this year.

Doha dream comes true

NSWIS athlete Angela Ballard is the Institute’s newest world champion after winning two gold medals from two events at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Qatar.
Ballard opened Australia’s campaign with a gold medal in the women’s T53 200m on the opening night of competition, easily accounting for her opposition by a posting a new championship record time of 29.33 seconds.
Ballard, who is coached by Louise Sauvage, then went on to claim her second gold of the meet by triumphing in the women’s T53 400m with a time of 57.47 seconds.
In other results, Ballard finished 10th in the women’s T53 1500m, Sarah Walsh finished sixth in the women’s long jump and Taylor Doyle ran a new personal best of 14.29 to place seventh in the women’s T38 100m.
The championships conclude on 31 October.

Law heading to Cycling World Cup

The Australian cycling squad has been named ahead of the opening round of the 2015/16 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, with NSWIS athlete Jackson Law earning selection.
Law has been selected as part of the men’s endurance squad and will return to Cali, Colombia for the opening leg of the World Cup after he won gold in the men’s team pursuit at the same event last year.
The World Cup begins on October 30 before heading to Cambridge, New Zealand in December, Hong Kong in January and London in March.

Rolling to Rio after win

The Australian men’s wheelchair basketball team, the Rollers, secured their place at the 2016 Paralympic Games after triumphing at the AOZ Qualifying Tournament in Japan.
Featuring NSWIS athlete Brett Stibners, the Rollers defeated Iran 78-60 in the final to secure their spot in Rio. Stibners tallied 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the final match, capping off a hugely successful tournament.
The Australians won every quarter to ensure qualification and 11 months worth of preparation time before the Games begin in September 2016.
There was heartbreak on the women’s side of the competition as the Australian Gliders missed out on Rio qualification.
Including NSWIS athletes Kylie Gauci and Georgia Munro-Cook, the Gliders fell to China 43-59 in their final bid to secure a berth at the Games.